Ditch toxic store-bought ant traps and opt to make your own. Here’s a simple guide on how to make a homemade ant trap straight from your kitchen. This is sure to get rid of ants in your garden, apartment, or homestead!
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Simple, Effective Homemade Ant Trap Options for Gardens and Homesteads
1. Simple Poisonous Borax-Sugar Bait
The idea behind this borax-sugar poison is to attract ants with the strong scent of sugar and then kill them with borax.
Smaller ants will faint upon consumption. Meanwhile, it might take a while for the poison to take effect on larger ants.
Whatever the case, once the ants bring a sample of the poison back to their home, the borax poison will spread throughout their colony. It’s a smart way to kill ants from the inside.
What You’ll Need:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 Tbsp. borax
- Paper or cardboard (optional)
Instructions:
- Mix the ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.
- Pour the mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. This should take about three minutes.
- Wait for the mixture to thicken as it cools down. After a few minutes, it should have a thick, paste-like consistency.
How to Use:
Spread the paste-like mixture on the floor, window sills, or garden soil. Basically, you spread the ant poison anywhere there are ants.
If you’re going to spread the paste on tiles or wood, make sure to use a piece of cardboard. Otherwise, the borax mixture might leave a mark on the surface.
2. Peanut Butter and Borax Paper Trap
The sugar-borax trap is great, but it might not work on ants that choose fats and protein over sweets. So if you notice an abundance of thief ants, pharaoh ants, and fire ants in your living space, opt for this ant trap instead.
Basically, the peanut butter will lure the ants and the borax will poison them. Smaller ants might get stuck and die immediately while the bigger ones might survive even after consuming the poison.
But again, even if they do survive, it will only be a matter of time for the poison to circulate through the system. Plus, the bait they bring home will poison the colony as well.
What You’ll Need:
- Peanut butter
- 2 Tbsp. borax
- Paper or cardboard
Instructions:
- Mix the two ingredients together in a small mixing bowl until they form a thick, sticky paste-like substance.
- Spread the mixture on a piece of paper and you’re good to go.
How to Use:
Set the trap somewhere ants often visit. In this case, you can set it on sensitive surfaces such as tile countertops or wooden floors because the mixture won’t leave a stain.
Check on your homemade ant trap every now and then because the ants will eventually accumulate. Once that happens, you’ll need to set a new trap.
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3. Jam and Borax Ant Poison
For homeowners having trouble with sweet-loving ants, use jam instead of peanut butter. The idea here is to lure them into eating the jam stuffed with borax.
Note that jam is very thick and dense so do not use too much of it. Otherwise, it might overpower the poisoning effects of the borax.
What You’ll Need:
- 2 Tbsp. borax
- Jelly
- Paper or cardboard
Instructions:
- Mix the jam and borax to make a thick paste.
- Spread the paste-like consistency on the piece of paper or cardboard.
How to Use:
Leave the cardboard with the jam-borax poison on the floors, window sills, or garden. Leave the ants to gather and feed on the poison.
Jam isn’t as sticky as peanut butter, but ants will still stick to your trap, so make sure to replace it every now and then.
Pro Tip: Are the ants getting fatter instead of dying? You might be using too much jam. Keep in mind that the jam will only act as a bait to lure ants into eating the borax.
4. Oil and Dish Soap Water Trap
Are you not sure what kind of ants are terrorizing your homestead? Then this one’s perfect for you!
Unlike the other traps on this list, this poison spray does not use any kind of bait. Instead of luring the ants, you’ll be coming straight to their territory to attack them.
It’s a fast, simple, and straightforward way to get rid of ant infestations.
What You’ll Need:
- 1 tsp. cooking oil
- 4 cups water
- 1 tsp. dishwashing soap
- Spray bottle
Instructions:
- Mix the ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.
- Transfer to a clean spray bottle.
- Shake well before using.
How to Use:
Spray the dishwashing soap-oil poison directly on the ants. The goal isn’t just to poison them, but to completely stop them in their tracks and drown them.
Perhaps the only downside here is that there won’t be any bait for ants to bring home and poison the colony. However, you can spray the mixture directly on the anthill.
5. Diatomaceous Earth Spray Solution
If you’re looking for a more scientific approach on how to kill ants, try out this diatomaceous earth spray solution. It is a naturally occurring sedimentary rock crumbled into fine powder.
This powder contains billions of microscopic particles sharp enough to rip the fragile joints of ants when ingested. They can also dehydrate them by absorbing body fats and oils.
Generally, however, diatomaceous earth is harmless to mammals, so they are safe to use around small kids and pets.
What You’ll Need:
- 6 Tbsp. diatomaceous earth
- 1 cup water
Instructions:
- Mix the two ingredients together and then pour into a clean spray bottle.
- Shake the mixture well before using it.
How to Use:
Spray the solution directly on the ants or on their trail. The goal is to coat these pests with your diatomaceous earth solution.
If you know the location of their colony, spray the solution directly on it.
Check out gregthegardener's homemade ant trap:
Feel free to modify this homemade ant trap any way you want. You can use alternatives if the ingredients mentioned above are not available.
Overall, the goal is to lure them using something sweet-smelling. Once they are in one location, it’ll be easy to trap them and ensure they never cause trouble again.
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